“It probably won’t make much sense, but I’ll try my best to explain…”
With this preface, I went on to describe my impression of Barg.
His scales reminded me of a dragon, and his powerful tail called to mind a whip as it moved around as if it had a mind of its own. His appearance was, indeed, fierce and a bit intimidating, but his scales were beautiful, and his tail was deeply fascinating. Although they didn’t have any of the cuteness of a gecko or a salamander, the lizard tribe beastpeople won hands down when it came to the coolness factor.
They inherited all of their animal ancestor’s best qualities!
“…Do you have something wrong with your head, young lady?”
“That’s not fair! It’s like I said—a difference in sensibilities!”
I’d been trying my best to maintain the facade of a gently bred young noblewoman, but without realizing it, my true nature slipped out.
“I’m quite certain I’ve never met any other noblewoman who described a beastperson’s tail as ‘fascinating.’”
“Speaking of tails, why is the hair on your tail so short, Mr. Dayu?”
The tail of the wing tribe beastperson I’d met back home in the Kingdom of Gaché had been bushy like a fox’s. Maybe the wing tribe are the most blessed among all beast people in receiving the best features of their ancestors?
They all had those beautiful snowy-white wings that looked just like angels, but the color of their ears and tails seemed to differ depending on the individual. Dayu’s fur was a light brown color that sometimes looked almost golden depending on the lighting, keeping in line with his overall “angelic” impression.
“When I grow it out long, it gets in the way and gets dirty easily during practice, so I trim it short to make it easier to keep clean.”
…Ahh, that’s something I think anyone with long hair can relate to. If you don’t keep up with it, long hair can easily become tangled and matted. I suppose you could compare his situation to a human buzzing their hair because it’s a hassle to wash when it’s long.
I enthusiastically took the opportunity to ask the two men several other questions that had been burning in my mind, like where each of their tribes’ native lands were, their tribes’ characteristic strengths, and even their favorite foods.
Dayu patiently answered each of my questions, but Barg was a bit gruff in his replies.
While we were talking, other soldiers who’d finished their practice matches began to gather around us, and each reacted as if they’d witnessed some kind of rare creature for the first time.
Is it really that unheard of for a member of the nobility to express interest in understanding beastpeople?!
“That’s enough, men. You’re being rude to our guest, so get lost.”
The lieutenant quickly shooed the gawking soldiers away when they got too rowdy. But by that point, training had finished, which meant the soldiers probably had some other work they needed to get started on, anyway.
“I’ll end my visit here for today,” I announced. “Would it be okay for me to visit again?”
“You want to come back?!”
Barg seemed shocked, but of course I wanted to come back! It was fun to watch the soldiers training, and I could tell I still had a way to go before I could say we’d truly become friends.
“His Majesty did say you were welcome to visit, and you’ve given us no reason to refuse you.”
“Lieutenant?!” Barg exclaimed incredulously, wanting to argue but unable to due to the strict hierarchy within the imperial army.
Barg might grumble about it all he liked, but I doubted he would actually disobey.
He seems to be a very “what you see is what you get” type of person. That’s not a bad thing, though.
After waving goodbye to everyone, I pondered what I might be able to bring as a gift to share with everyone the next time I visited.
“A gift? As the primary organization in charge of protecting the country, the army is always in danger of being maliciously targeted, so they aren’t allowed to accept gifts from private citizens…” Paul explained when I asked him for advice after returning to my and Karna’s suite of rooms.
“But Dan and Lestin have accepted my gifts plenty of times in the past…”
If I remembered correctly, I’d brought small gifts such as candies and baked goods for the knights at the beast stables and dragon stables to share on multiple occasions.
“That was after they determined the sincerity of your intentions.”
According to Paul, I’d been immediately determined not to be a threat to the animals, but they’d observed me for a while longer before they’d been satisfied with the sincerity of my intentions towards the knights.
Aristocrats often looked down on people whose jobs involved caring for animals as “dirty” and “smelly.”
If I ever hear any nobles saying such things, I’ll give them a piece of my mind! The beast knights and dragon knights treat the animals and dragons in their care as valued partners who help them protect our country and its citizens!
“So if you want to give a gift, I think it might be best to ask His Majesty or Lord Louivence for their assistance.”
I suppose there have been cases in the past where people poisoned the army’s food or water to weaken them in preparation for a large-scale attack. They don’t have poison testers like the nobility, so refusing to eat anything from unconfirmed sources is akin to self-defense.
“Okay. The emperor is probably busy, so I’ll try asking Louis.”
I drafted a letter to Louis summarizing my situation and asked Paul to deliver it for me.
But, for some reason, when Paul returned from making the delivery, Louis was with him.
“I’m bored sick of doing paperwork all day, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for a tea break with you, Neema,” he said.
He’s skipping out on his work?! Don’t drag me into it and use me as a convenient excuse for being a slacker!
“Paperwork is also a very important part of your official duties!” I insisted.
“But everyone needs to take a break now and then, right?”
I suppose he has a point. Taking regular breaks has been shown to improve efficiency. But Louis himself admitted he’s just bored!
“More importantly, I heard you went to the training arena? How was it?”
“I got to speak with beastpeople from the lizard and wing tribes!”
From an outside perspective, it was probably alarming that I then went on to describe in great detail all of the parts of these two beastpeople I wanted to touch and pet.
“I figured it would be fine since it’s you, but now I’m a bit worried on a different account,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
“In general, most beastpeople are extremely loyal by nature. But even if they’ve vowed fealty to the imperial family, they will often bare their fangs at members of the nobility.”
I had a feeling that Barg would skip right over “baring his fangs” at the nobles and jump straight to taking a chunk out of them if they rubbed him the wrong way.
That lieutenant sure has his work cut out for him!
“If you let your guard down just because they’re beastpeople, you might be eaten.”
…He’s speaking rhetorically, right? I’m not in any danger of literally being chewed up and swallowed, nom-nom-nom, am I?
Or even worse, does he mean it in some other manner…?!
Neeeever mind, I’m going to stop that train of thought right there.
“…I’ll be careful,” I promised.
You never know what could happen, after all. I need to stop relying entirely on Shinki and Spica and work on avoiding danger in the first place!
I determined to take Louis’s warning to heart.
Louis seemed to get along with beastpeople fairly well—the commander-in-chief and he were old friends, after all. He’d told me stories of how he, the commander-in-chief, and several other beastperson friends had played together and gotten up to all manner of mischief when they were young.
Ooooh, I’m so jealous!
“I will prepare the gift and have it delivered in your name, Neema.”
Once he’d finished drinking his tea, Louis announced regretfully, “I suppose it’s time to get back to work,” and left to do just that.
He really is one of those people whose personality doesn’t match their appearance at all!